The prohibition of torture - European Court of Human Rights

clude reasonable steps to prevent ill-treatment of
which the authorities had or ought to have had
knowledge. The same applies directly to situations
where individuals are under the direct responsibility
or charge of local authorities, for example under
their care and supervision.
Other claims of neglect by social services in
the United Kingdom have also been found to
violate Article 3. In that case, four child applicants
suffered abuse from private individuals which, it
was not contested, reached the threshold of inhuman
and degrading treatment. This treatment
was brought to the local authority’s attention. The
local authority was under a statutory duty to
protect the children and had a range of powers
available to them, including removal from their
home. The children were, however, taken into emergency
care only at the insistence of the mother, at a
much later date. Over the intervening period of
four and a half years, they had been subject in their
own home to “horrific experiences”, as the child
consultant psychiatrist who examined them
stated. The United Kingdom Criminal Injuries
Compensation Board had also found that the
children had been subject to appalling neglect
over an extended period and suffered physical and
psychological injury directly attributable to a crime
of violence.
Whilst the European Court acknowledged the
difficult and sensitive decisions facing social services
and the important countervailing principle of
respecting and preserving family life, it found that
the present case left no doubt as to the failure of
the system to protect the child applicants from
serious, long-term neglect and abuse. 83
83 Z and others v. the United
Kingdom judgment of
10 May 2001.
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